How to Get More Traffic from Google Images

Many business owners think of Google Images as a place where people look at pictures and never visit a website. So they ignore it. I hear it all the time: “Nobody buys anything from an image search.”

That belief is half true and half expensive. Some image searches really are just people browsing. But a lot of them are people choosing a product, comparing a design, checking what a part looks like, or deciding which recipe to cook tonight. When your image is the one they click, they land on your page with a clear idea of what they want.

In this guide I will explain, in plain words, where image traffic actually comes from, which searches are worth chasing, what makes Google pick one image over another, and how to measure all of it in Search Console. I am not going to repeat the basics of alt text and file compression here. Those are covered in our image SEO guide and our post on image compression. This article is about strategy: getting more visits, not just tidier images.

How much traffic can Google Images really send you?

Let me be honest first. There is no reliable, current public number for “share of all searches that happen on Google Images.” You will see old figures quoted around the web, many from clickstream data that is now years out of date. I would not plan a budget on them.

What we do know from Google itself is that visual search is big and growing. In a post dated June 14, 2023, Google said Lens handled more than 12 billion visual searches every month. By October 3, 2024, that figure had grown:

“[Lens] is now used for nearly 20 billion visual searches every month.”

— Google, New ways to search with Google Lens and AI Overviews (October 2024)

Lens is not the same thing as the Images tab, but the trend matters. People increasingly search with pictures and for pictures. And as I will show below, Search Console now separates these sources, so you can see your own numbers instead of guessing.

In brief: the right question is not “how big is Google Images in general?” It is “how many of my target queries are image-led, and how much of that traffic am I getting?” The rest of this guide answers that.

The three places your images can appear in Google

When people say “Google Images traffic,” they usually mix up three different placements. Each one behaves differently, and each one is reported differently.

Placement	What the searcher sees	Where it shows in Search Console	Typical intent
Google Images tab	A grid of images. Clicking opens a larger preview with your page title and a visit button.	Search type: Image	Browsing, comparing styles, finding a specific product or diagram
Image pack in normal results	A row or block of images inside the regular “All” results	Search type: Web (the block counts as one position)	Visual queries where Google thinks pictures help (products, designs, places)
Visual (multimodal) search	Results after someone searches with Lens, Circle to Search or an uploaded photo	Search type: Web (multimodal)	“What is this?” and “Where can I buy this?”

That last row is newer. Google’s Performance report help page now lists a separate “Web (multimodal)” search type for searches made with Google Lens, Circle to Search, uploaded images and Chrome image search. If you sell physical products, keep an eye on it.

Image packs are worth special attention. They sit inside the main results, so they are seen by people who never open the Images tab.

Which queries are image-led (and which are a waste of time)?

Not every keyword deserves image work. Let me explain how I sort them. A query is image-led when the searcher can’t judge the answer without seeing it. A query is text-led when a picture adds nothing.

Signs a query is image-led

• Google already shows an image pack in the normal results for it. This is the strongest signal.
• The query contains visual words: ideas, design, style, colors, examples, diagram, chart, layout, before and after, tattoo, outfit, kitchen, logo.
• The answer is a thing with a look: furniture, clothing, plants, tiles, car parts, hairstyles, wedding cakes.
• The answer is easier to follow as a picture: wiring diagrams, knot instructions, floor plans, anatomy, maps.
• People want to identify something: “what is this bug,” “what is this plant,” “type of screw head.”

Signs a query is not worth image effort

• Pure definitions or opinions (“what is a mortgage broker”).
• Local service intent where people want a phone number, not a picture.
• Queries where the image results are all stock photos with no clear winner. These rarely send clicks because nobody needs to visit a page to understand a generic photo.

A quick 15-minute way to find your image-led queries

1. Open Search Console, go to Performance, and set the search type to Image. Set the date range to the last 3 months.
2. Open the Queries tab and sort by impressions. These are queries where Google already shows your images.
3. Switch the search type back to Web and compare. Any query that appears in both lists, with decent impressions in Image, is a candidate.
4. Search the top 20 candidates in a private browser window. Note whether an image pack appears in the main results.
5. Mark each one as image pack present, Images tab only or no visual intent. Work on the first group first.

If you are new to the report, our guide to reading the Search Console Performance report walks through every filter.

Original images that earn the click

This is the part most sites get wrong. They add a stock photo, write perfect alt text, and wonder why nothing happens. The reason is simple. If the same stock image appears on 400 other pages, Google has 400 choices, and the searcher has no reason to pick yours.

Images that earn traffic usually do one of these jobs:

• Show the real thing. Your actual product, from several angles, on a plain background and in use.
• Explain something. A labeled diagram, a size chart, a step-by-step photo sequence, a comparison graphic.
• Show a result. Before and after photos, finished projects, real installations.
• Answer a “which one” question. Side-by-side photos of three options with labels.

Google’s own guidance points the same way. Its Google Images documentation recommends sharp, high-quality images because they look better in thumbnails and can attract more clicks. The SEO Starter Guide puts it in one line:

“Use images that are sharp and clear, and place them near text that’s relevant to the image.”

— Google Search Central, SEO Starter Guide

We have a full comparison of original images vs stock photos if you are deciding where to spend your photo budget.

What makes a thumbnail clickable

In Google Images, your image is first seen as a small thumbnail next to dozens of others. Here is what I suggest you check:

• One clear subject. Busy scenes turn into mush at thumbnail size.
• Sensible aspect ratio. Google’s documentation specifically says to “avoid using an image with an extreme aspect ratio” when choosing the image you want shown for a page.
• Little or no text baked into the image for your main image. Text is hard to read at small sizes, and Google lists images with text among those to avoid as a page’s preferred image.
• Enough resolution that the larger preview still looks crisp.

Placement and surrounding text: how Google reads an image’s context

Google does not only look at the image file. It reads the page around it. The Google Images best practices page explains that Google uses the page’s content, including captions and image titles, to understand what an image shows.

So the same photo can rank well on one page and not at all on another. Let me give you an example.

Example: one photo, two pages

Imagine a tile shop has a photo of a green herringbone kitchen backsplash.

• Page A is a general “About our showroom” page. The photo sits in a gallery of 30 images with no captions and no nearby text about backsplashes.
• Page B is a page titled “Green herringbone backsplash ideas.” The photo sits directly under a heading about herringbone layouts, with a caption naming the tile color, size and grout color.

Page B gives Google far more reasons to show that photo for “green herringbone backsplash.” It also gives the searcher a reason to click: the page clearly continues the topic they searched for.

A simple placement checklist

Check	Good	Weak
Page topic	Page is about the same thing the image shows	Image sits on an unrelated page
Position	Image is near the text that describes it	Image is in a gallery far from any related text
Caption	Short caption with specific details (model, color, size, place)	No caption, or “Image 1”
Alt text	Describes the image in context	Empty, or a list of keywords
File name	green-herringbone-backsplash.jpg	IMG00023.JPG
HTML	Real <img> element with a src	CSS background image (Google doesn’t index these)

Captions are underused. They are read more than body text, and they give Google clear context. I go deeper on this in our post on image captions and SEO. For the last row, note that Google’s Images documentation is clear that CSS background images are not indexed, and it recommends always giving a fallback src even when you use responsive images. Our guide to srcset and sizes shows how to do that properly.

Structured data, badges and the Licensable label

When someone opens an image in Google Images, Google can show extra labels that make your result stand out. These come from structured data, which is a small block of code that describes your page to search engines in a standard format.

“the image attribute is a required field to be eligible for a badge and rich result in Google Images.”

— Google Search Central, Google Images SEO best practices

In plain words: if you use Product, Recipe or Video markup, make sure the image property points to a good image. Without it, that page can’t get the badge.

Product data in Google Images

For online stores, this is where image search gets commercial. Google’s documentation on sharing product data with Google says Google Images shows product annotations drawn from structured data and also uses images listed in Merchant Center. It also says Google Lens uses image structured data properties where available. Our guide to product schema and merchant listings covers the setup.

The Licensable badge for photographers and illustrators

If you sell or license images, add image license metadata. You can do it with structured data (the license and acquireLicensePage properties) or by embedding IPTC metadata in the file. Google then shows a “Licensable” label that links to your terms. We cover the details in image metadata for Google Images.

Telling Google which image represents the page

Google’s Images documentation says you can influence the preferred image for a page through schema.org markup (for example primaryImageOfPage) or the og:image meta tag. This matters for pages with many images, where Google might otherwise pick a logo or a small icon.

Measuring image search traffic properly in Search Console

Here is where many reports go wrong. Image clicks and image impressions are counted in specific ways, and if you don’t know the rules, you will misread your data. Google explains them on its page about how clicks and impressions are counted. Let me summarize the parts that matter.

Event	Google Images tab (Image search type)	Image block in normal results (Web search type)
Impression	Only when the image is scrolled into view	Counted whether or not the image is scrolled into view (carousel images must be scrolled into view)
Position	Counted left to right, then top to bottom, so it varies by screen width	The whole image block occupies one position
Expanding the thumbnail	Not a click	Not a click
Click	Only when the person leaves Google for your page	Only when the person leaves Google for your page
Which URL gets credit	The page hosting the image, not the image file	The page hosting the image

“Image impressions are counted only when the image has been scrolled into view.”

— Google, How are impressions, position, and clicks calculated?

Two things follow from this. First, a low CTR in the Image search type is normal. People expand thumbnails all the time without visiting. Don’t compare it with your Web CTR. Second, average position in image search is rough. Position 15 on a wide desktop screen might be in the second row. On a phone it might be much further down.

A worked example of image ROI

Let me put numbers on this. These are hypothetical, for illustration only.

Example: a garden store looks at the last 3 months in Search Console with the Image search type.

• Image impressions: 240,000
• Image clicks: 1,920 (a CTR of 0.8%)
• From GA4, visitors landing on those plant pages converted at 1.5%, with an average order of $45.

That is about 29 orders (1,920 × 1.5%) and roughly $1,300 in revenue over 3 months, from a channel they were not tracking at all. Now suppose they replace stock photos with real photos on their 40 best-selling plant pages, and image CTR rises from 0.8% to 1.2% while impressions stay flat. Clicks would go to 2,880, and orders to about 43. I treat these numbers as direction, not a forecast. But they show why a small CTR change on a large impression base can be worth a photo shoot.

Separating image visits in GA4

In GA4, image search clicks usually arrive as organic Google traffic with no special label. Search Console is the more reliable place to measure the Images tab. Use GA4 to judge the quality of those visits by looking at the landing pages that get most of their clicks from image search. Our Learn SEO lesson on image SEO covers the beginner side of this if you need it.

Image search for ecommerce stores

For online stores, image search is not a “nice to have.” Shoppers often browse visually before they decide what to type. Here is how I would approach a store.

1. Start with your best-sellers. Pick the 20 to 50 products that already sell well. Image work pays back fastest where demand exists.
2. Shoot at least four images per product: plain background, in use, close-up of detail, and scale (next to a hand or common object).
3. Make the first image the one you want Google to show, and list it first in your Product structured data.
4. Write alt text that names the variant. “Women’s waterproof hiking boot in olive, side view” beats “boot.” Our guide on product image alt text has templates.
5. Check Merchant Center image approvals if you use it, because Google Images uses images listed there.
6. Use the same image URL everywhere the product appears. Google recommends referencing an image with the same URL across pages so it can be cached.
7. Add an image sitemap if your images load from a CDN or through JavaScript. See our guide to image sitemaps.

Category pages matter too. A category page with a clean grid of real product photos often appears in image packs for broad queries like “linen summer dress.” If you want help planning this at scale, our ecommerce SEO service includes image and product data work.

What image traffic won’t do for you

I want to set honest expectations. Image search is not right for every business, and some image traffic is nearly worthless.

• Clicks from infographics and memes often bounce. People wanted the picture, not your service.
• Hotlinking and copying happen. If your images are good, others will use them. You can sometimes turn this into links, by asking sites that reuse them to credit and link to your page.
• Not every page needs an image strategy. A law firm’s blog post about contract terms gains little from image search. Put that effort elsewhere.
• Decorative images should not be forced to rank. They need different alt text handling, which I explain in alt text for decorative images.

Questions people ask about Google Images traffic

Does alt text alone get my images ranked?

No. Google calls alt text the most important metadata for an image, but it is only one part. The page topic, nearby text, captions, image quality and uniqueness all matter. Alt text on a stock photo on an unrelated page won’t do much.

Why is my CTR in image search so low?

Because expanding a thumbnail isn’t counted as a click. Many people look at the large preview and move on. A CTR under 1% in the Image search type is common. Compare your image CTR with your own past numbers, not with your Web CTR.

Do image packs in normal results count as image search?

No. Image blocks inside normal results are reported under the Web search type in Search Console. The Image search type covers the Google Images tab only.

Should I block Google from showing my full-size images?

Usually not. Google explains a way to stop full-size inline display in its Images documentation, but it then shows only a thumbnail, which can reduce the visual appeal of your result. Consider it only if image theft is a serious business problem.

Do AI-generated images rank in Google Images?

They can be indexed like any other image. But they face the same problem as stock photos if they are generic. If you use them, make them specific to your page and add real value.

Where to start with image search on your site this month

If you only do three things, do these. First, open Search Console and look at the Image search type to see what you already rank for. Second, pick your 20 most valuable image-led queries and check the image pack for each. Third, replace generic photos on those pages with original images placed next to relevant, specific text.

Then measure for 8 to 12 weeks before you judge the result. Image search moves slowly, and seasonality is strong for things like gardening and fashion.

If you would like us to audit your image search opportunity and build a plan, our SEO team can help. Just request a quote and tell us which products or pages matter most to you.

Further reading on google images traffic

• Should You Put Your Brand Name in Title Tags?
• Title Tag vs H1: Should They Match?
• Should You Change a Page's URL? Safe Slug Changes for SEO

Sources for this Google Images traffic guide

1. Google Search Central: Google Images SEO best practices
2. Search Console Help: How impressions, position and clicks are calculated
3. Search Console Help: Performance report (search types)
4. Google Blog: Lens and AI Overviews updates (October 3, 2024)
5. Google Blog: 8 ways Google Lens can help (June 14, 2023)
6. Google Search Central: Share your product data with Google
7. Google Search Central: Image license metadata
8. Google Search Central: SEO Starter Guide
9. Ahrefs: Image SEO, 12 actionable tips (Joshua Hardwick)